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"IF PEOPLE LOVE YOU, THEY WANT YOU TO GROW."

Dear Ones —

I'm setting off for the next stop on Oprah's The Life You Want Tour — Newark! Practically my own hometown! I can almost walk to the arena!

JERSEY IN THE HOUSE!

(A photo of my Newark dress is coming tomorrow morning, by the way, dear ones…wait for it, it's gonna be sweet!)

I can't wait to see what I learn this weekend. When I'm not having my moment on stage, I'll be right down there in the front row again, notebook in hand, writing down all that the wisdom I can from these great teachers and from this passionate audience.

And I'm not the only speaker at this event who leans in hard to listen to the others, and who views these weekends as a chance to learn and to grow. Here's a photo I snapped last week of my fellow Trailblazer, the Pastor Rob Bell, in rapt attention as Oprah was talking about her life's journey.

Look at the focus in his face. That's how you conduct yourself as a student at the feet of a master. ("I never get tired of it," he told me later. Yup. Me, neither.)

I also wanted to share with you something Rob said last weekend, in answer to a question a woman asked him, about how to handle her friends and family who are resistant to her spiritual and emotional evolution in life. Rob said (and do lean in, everyone):

"If people love you, they want you to grow. If people don't want you to grow, then you can call the feelings that they have for you by many names. But you can't call it love."

ONWARD,
LG

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

"YOUR FEAR IS THE MOST BORING THING ABOUT YOU"

…yikes!

Dear Ones –

Here's a short clip from Oprah's The Life You Want Tour in Washington DC last weekend. (OK, forget about the message for one shallow moment and enjoy the Cherry Blossom Dress in action! Hooray, Cherry Blossom Dress! OK, shallow moment over. Back to the message.)

It was (ironically) scary to make this statement to an arena of 10,000 people. It can be seen an uncharacteristically blunt statement from somebody like me, when I try to be as loving and gentle as I can, as often as I can. But when I accuse your fears of being boring, it is only because I know that mine are, too. I am confessing here to the utter boringness of my fears — which I have studied closely over the years — which I know are the same as yours.

We think our fears are precious and special, but they aren't.

WE are precious and special, but our fears are not.

I want us all liberated from the path of fear, for many reasons — but mostly because it makes for such a damn boring life.

Fear only ever tells you one thing: STOP.

Whereas creativity, courage and inspiration only ever want you to GO.

GO = motion = change = fascination = possibility = growth = LIFE.

STOP = well, nothing.

And nothing is always more boring than something.

So…go do something.

Is what I'm saying.

I say it with love.

LG

https://bit.ly/ZeQIo2

The One and Only Way to Move Past Fear
www.oprah.com
Does fear control you? Best-selling author Elizabeth Gilbert knows that our hidden anxieties sometimes seem much more important than they really are. Watch to find out her surprising and inspiring advice on how to break free from an emotional prison.

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

#TBT

Today's throwback: Me in 1997, standing in front of my parent's house, proudly holding a copy of my very first book, PILGRIMS.

I loved that suit so much. (It was my first suit. Actually, it was my first suit until last year…) I loved that haircut, too. (I thought I looked like Demi Moore. You guys, I don't look like Demi Moore.)

I felt so freakin' SLICK!

Slick and proud.

I also remember thinking, "This is probably the only book I will ever write." I had nothing left in me after those short stories were all gathered. I'd been working on those stories since I was about 17. (I was 27 in this photo.) I thought, "This might be all I've got." I thought, "This will probably be the peak experience of my life."

It's a thought I still have, whenever I finish a book. ("Well, I'm drained — nothing left. My work on earth is done.") But I've learned over the years that you SHOULD feel that way, once a creative project is done. You should feel that you have put everything you've got into it. That you've left nothing on the field.

Only then, emptied, can new ideas approach.

And oh my goodness, thank the stars of inspiration, the new ideas DO approach. They inch toward you; you inch toward them. Then we begin all over again…

Thank god our work is never done.

ONWARD,
LG

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

I am so proud of Emma Watson for this speech.

I don't know if you've all seen it yet, but it left me teary and stirred and hopeful. Please do watch it. She is launching a wonderful movement here for men and women alike.

Like Ms. Watson, I identify myself as a feminist. I use that word with absolute comfort. Even more so, I identify myself as a BENEFICIARY of feminism — along with nearly every woman in the modern Western world. There is not a single freedom in my life (political, financial, biological, vocational) that I do not owe to the work of stronger, braver, smarter women who came before me, and who cleared the path so that I could enjoy (and sometimes even take for granted) the liberties of selfhood.

My crown was paid for with their sacrifice.

I figure the least I can do in return is be grateful to those women — my heroic foremothers — and to use with pride the word they chose for themselves. So, yes, I am a feminist and always will be.

(As I said in a recent interview, "It seems rude NOT to call yourself a feminist, given what feminism delivered to us.")

To see a young woman of Emma Watson's age and stature taking a stand like this with such grace, such intelligence…well, it is deeply important and inspiring. BRAVA.

So watch this video.

And do go LIKE the Facebook page for Ms. Watson's movement: https://ift.tt/1vaCsaH

ONWARD. Onward, indeed.

LG

https://bit.ly/1r8CzUM

Emma Watson HeForShe Speech at the United Nations | UN Women 2014

UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador, Emma Watson, delivers her moving remarks during the HeForShe Special Event at United Nations Headquarters in New York on…

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS and a fan (who never gets in trouble from her mom for reading in low light!)

Photos of Elizabeth Gilbert
We have 2 more cats but this one seems to really like your book! I loved this book, thanks great read!
Sherry from Doaktown, New Brunswick, Canada

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall